FIGHT DIRTY: METTLE MAKER #248
Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.
Face some foul weather dirty work. I’m pretty accustomed to training outdoors. But this week the weather has been so completely icy, frozen and inhospitable that a couple of mornings I just couldn’t train out there. So every half our or so throughout the day I did 10 each of PUP and SQT. Be extra scrupulous about form and pace — 2-count descent, 1 count hesitate at the bottom, 2-count press, 1-count hesitate at the top.
20 min. command and mastery knife pyramid drill. Get a dull training knife and a floor bag or grappling dummy. Set timer for 1o mins. Complete 1 of each of the following four exercises (a) 5 attacks to bag from Top Saddle, roll to bottom, 5 attacks from Bottom Scissors, Reverse back to Top Saddle. Do a Smearing Get-up (don’t forget the push-cut). (b) Sprawl. (c) Sit-ups with a double “X” air slash (step over bag, hook rear toes, and fall back into over/under Short Arm Bar position and work from there). Then do 2 of each, 3, 4, etc. until timer beeps. Finish that set, then descend. 50 Push-up penalty if the business end of the training weapon touches your body at any point during the drill. If any of this doesn’t make sense, sounds like you should enroll in the Cabal Fang distance learning program or come out and train!
Have you done this month’s constitutional twice this week? If not, get it done. If so, reward yourself with something nice, like a long walk, a new book, or a fun fitness tool, etc.
Do you know the prevailing wind direction for your home territory? In my area, the wind most often blows from the south in summer and the north in winter (see wind rose on the right). Find the regional climate center for your state, do a search, and generate the wind roses for you stomping grounds. If you know the ICAO code for the airport climate center nearest you, plug it into the URL from at the WRCC and you can get what you need, or if you’re in the SE, just go the the NCCO. You can’t rely on wind direction if you get lost, but you can use it as a backup, for support of a supposition, to determine if there’s a new weather pattern blowing in, etc.
Fight as dirty with yourself as you would in self-defense. Last week your assignment was to put one of the Five Vital Graces (Wonder, Sagacity, Frugality, Indomitability and Fraternity) into action. This week be extra self-critical. Keep a notepad or a scrap of paper and a pen in your pocket. Write down the Five Vital Graces on the paper. If you catch yourself behaving in a manner inconsistent with one of the five precepts, put an “x” next to it for that day. Max score for a given day is 5 — one point for each precept you kept. See if you get better over the course of the week. “That which is measured improves.”